Would you be able to jump start a car or change a tyre?

[Diddums]

General public question, hence here.

Say your car won't start. Someone offers to help and has jump leads but no idea how to use them. Would you know what to do without googling it?

And the next one:

If you suffered a flat and got stuck would you be able to fit your spare tyre if you have one?

And be honest, just like I am not embarrassed to admit I probably couldn't install a watercooling loop without drowning myself, there's no need to feel embarrassed if you can't do either of these jobs.


I'm genuinely curious. I know how to perform both of these and most other basic maintenance on a car but I seem to be in a minority. Just a couple of months ago I saw one of my neighbours call out the AA to fit his spare tyre for him. He must be 28ish. Obviously he may have had a flat spare which is why he called them out but it still raised my curiosity.

Tonight I was picking up some food on the way home when I saw a chap in a Volvo station wagon asking someone, jump leads in hand, to give him a jump. The guy he was asking couldn't have been over 30 but refused as he didn't know how it would affect his car (Golf mk6). I watched this for a few minutes and then being the gift to humanity I am I offered. I pulled up my car so the batteries were as close as could be, opened the bonnet, removed the battery cover, red first then black, gave it some beans and his Volvo fired right up.

This again made me wonder. In South Africa these aren't specialist skills, if you get stuck by the side of the road you can be hundreds of miles from any civilization and the AA works on a calendar rather than a clock, so if you break down and can't find the A-team, you need to know how to reduce the chances of having to call out a tow truck which in South Africa are known as vultures and will happily tow you home for £500 odd (yes pounds, not rands).

I thought most people would know. I am surprised to find that this is often not the case.


So, can you?

 

[Diddums]

City people init. I know the basics. I did try and change a gearbox about 12 years ago and kind of managed it. Haven't tinkered with cars since then. It's just lego, get the instructions and change the part.

Seems to be more of a generational thing. There are of course many variables in this, the most obviois being that cars are leased and probably come with breakdown cover and doing any work yourself could be against the terms of the lease so that could be one explanation, but I think I'd rather spend 15 mins changing a tyre myself than waiting four hours for the AA to arrive.

I think many people just don't care as well, and why would they? Let other people get paid to do it.

 

[Diddums]

Obviously I meant wheel. Nobody's carrying a bloody tyre removal rig in the boot of their car, are they?


Are they?

 

[Diddums]

Jump leads are for pussies, i spend 2 months in the 80s living in fear of stalling my crappy Nova without a hill to bump it.

TWO WHOLE MONTHS?

You should get an award for that

 

[Diddums]

Well I do for my bike, why not a car?

Tell you what. Record yourself changing a car tyre with your bike kit and I'll hand you a nice internet award.

Blindfolded for double points and there's another secret side quest in this storyline which will double all points but you have to figure out what it is.

Go

 

[Diddums]

I can certainly jump start a car but you have to be so carefull these days, too many computers involved. I've brought one of those jump pack things to do it next time I need to which is fairly often with two young drivers in the house.

Also a wheel change is no problem unless the wheel hasn't been off for a time and you undo the bolts and the thing is pretty still welded to the car and you have to lie on your back and kick seven bells out of it or hit it with the spare or bolt it back on losely and roll forward a bit.. but other than that its easy

I'm a pretty pratical person and can turn my hand to most things, even more so these days when there are a dozen vidoes explaining exactly what to do, used one of those to do a head gasket on a peugeot!

Busted shins are no joke

 

[Diddums]

Of course and much much more as well. I do all the servicing and maintenance on my car and no job would put me off. I am a mechanical engineer by trade though. It is surprising just how many people are incapable of something as simple as changing a wheel. Next door to me called out the AA to change their wheel because they didn't know how to do it. They didn't even watch the guy so that they would learn how to do it themselves. I would have offered to do it for them but it was the side facing away from us so didn't see it. I know a lot of cars don't even have a spare wheel these days and all you get is a can of gunk and a tyre inflator. Fat lot of good that will do you if the tyre is torn or you have a blowout. To me it makes sense that everybody who drives should at least know the basics of car maintenance, wheel changing, topping up fluids, tyre pressures, changing bulbs and things like that.

Yep, agreed. Although bulbs are tricky nowadays as often you have to strip half the car to get to them.

 

[Diddums]

If you're not skinning your knuckles whilst changing your pipes, you're not having fun

You ever tried kick starting a huge single cylinder bike?

A mate of mine and I had an old XT500 which his dad gave to us on the condition that we could start it. 4 ruined shins later we finally managed it and kept it. We wore cricket pads after that